Labour Party Suspends National Treasurer Who Accused Chair, Abure Of N3.5 Billion Fraud
Labour Party National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara has been suspended.
Opara’s suspension was officially announced during a media briefing held at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
This news platform had reported earlier how Opara had publicly challenged the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, to account for N3.5 billion generated from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities for the upcoming 2023 general elections.
The following day (Tuesday), during an interview on Arise TV’s “Good Morning Show,” Opara once again accused the Abure-led NWC of secretly supporting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State ahead of the governorship election on September 21.
The crisis within the Labour Party’s leadership escalated yesterday, and the National Working Committee imposed a six-month suspension on Opara.
In a response earlier to Opara’s serious allegations, the LP’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, referred to her as a mole being manipulated by dissidents within the party.
Subsequently, Ifoh informed journalists that the decision to sanction Opara was made after she failed to attend a meeting with the party’s NWC to address the conflict.
He said, “After the 2023 general elections, the Labour Party was marked for total annihilation by the system for daring to upstage the status quo of the political class. Little did we know that the fumigation was far from complete until late last year when signs emanated that our National Treasurer, Ms Oluchi Opara, a key member of the executive, turned out to be a mole in the house and has continued networking with the expelled members of the party leadership.
“Convinced that the treasurer is on a mission to stifle life out of our very cherished party, an emergency NWC was summoned on February 13. Arising from the meeting, the NWC set up a disciplinary committee to try Opara for bringing the party to disrepute. To exercise its powers as contained in the party’s constitution with the intention of a fair hearing, the NWC extended an invitation to her to appear before it today, February 14, by 10 am to discuss the development. The party regrets that the treasurer shunned the invitation by the disciplinary committee to clear herself.
“We see this as an affront to the party leadership and millions of our members who are watching how their party’s image, which they have laboured hard to build. The disciplinary committee has, however, recommended to the National Executive Council of the party through the NWC that Ms Oluchi Opara be suspended from the Labour Party for a minimum of six months. This suspension is with immediate effect.
“We sincerely regret this development. We, however, urge our teeming members to understand that this is a price to pay for success. We will continue to reform the party until we achieve the best, good enough to drive our New Nigeria agenda.”
